Category: EdTech Reflections

Today in class, we discussed the experience of both the positive and negative aspects of learning online. I have been struggling with online learning quite a bit lately.  There are truly so many different positive and negative aspects of it.

Positives for me include not spending as much money driving to the university and paying for parking. I also do not have to pack or buy lunch as I am at home and have everything here. I also normally have time to go to the gym between classes, which I would not do as my gym is close to my house, far from the university.

But, there are many cons. I have made a few friends over this year, as it is my first year at uvic, but I have not met nearly half the people in my cohort. Learning at home is lonely, and it is exhausting sitting in your room where you are supposed to relax, and it also is your workplace and a room you spend 80% of the day in.

We talked a lot about what is made only possible for teaching and learning when conducted face-to-face and when it is only possible for teaching and learning when conducted online.  Although the university has done a good job making online learning as good as possible, using breakout rooms constantly allowing us to talk to one another is not the same as real human connection and conversation. I believe heavily in collaboration between my students and in my learning, and online learning is not the same when collaborating. If there was a happy medium of online and in-person, half and half, then I think I would be thrilled.

This video was in one of Michael’s slides, and it was fascinating to see. Although we have never been forced to learn online, we are always learning online. I taught myself the Ukulele from youtube, math at Camosun mostly on youtube, and now my first year of university online. Digital learning will always be a part of learning from this point on; technology is critical and used every day in schools and at home. We must always learn new techniques and discover ways to make online learning easier, as even when we are back in person, digital learning is always being used. With digital learning comes many different possibilities and different inclusion options. Our students need us to understand how to navigate and have different resources available if needed, as all students need different ways of learning.

 

The BCEdAccess society is a volunteer run organization that serves families of children with disabilities and complex learners.

Tracy Humphreys, founder and chair of BCEdAccess came to speak about her organization. This was so interesting to me because throughout this whole degree, we have talked about inclusion in depth. It has been clear to us, as teachers in training, that all children are complex. Students need options, and need to be engaged. It is our job as teachers to provide inclusion opportunities into our classroom, whether that being technology, different options of learning, different activities, etc.

It was the most upsetting to me to hear about the families of these children who are complex learners. Although there are many people trying to make learning better for particular students, it is hard to do this in a way where students are not feeling left out or different. This is what is the most upsetting to me.

I also really enjoyed this youtube video Tracy provided us with

Learning and education is a basic human right. No one should feel excluded in learning, only included. I hope that when I become a teacher I can promote a number of opportunities for students that may have different learning strategies. This is always in the back of my mind when creating lesson plans for any of my classes this semester, and after watching this video always will be.

Tracy really helped me open my eyes on this topic.

This week in technology we learned about how technology services help in the classroom. I think that resources for students online that can be used at home for homework are really important. As teachers, we do not have the time to share all the resources students can use at home to further or help their learning and understanding. It is really important for students to know there are resources, and that they are really helpful when they cannot be at school to ask important questions.

For me, I always struggled with math. I remember going home every day frustrated and confused with what we learned at school that day. For as long as I can remember, I never understood math the way everyone else did. Luckily, there were resources for me to get ahold of to try and learn more at home to be up to speed. One of the resources we went over is a screencast video from the Khan Academy

I used Khan Academy a lot for my math struggles in high school. These videos are truly amazing as it is a professional teacher using a board and explaining at the same time. In my career, I will definitely be using these resources for my students to have at home.

Pacific Schoool For Innovation & Inquiry

This was an exciting class. I did not even know this school existed before we had this discussion. I thought that it was fascinating how other types of schools out there that I do not even know about. It reminded me a lot of our philosophy class last semester. I did a project on the Montessori school, which is also a different type of school. I think that it is important to have different types of schools because all children are different and learn differently.

We also learned a lot about inquiry-based learning last semester. We had to make a few different inquiries, and I can see how important it is to learning, especially for children. Like the Montessori school, it gives children the responsibility for their own learning and chooses how they want to learn. I noticed that the Pacific School for Innovation and Inquiry that a lot of the work is done with technology. As a student, I never really dealt with much technology growing up. I think that it is really interesting to see how learning is developing in this decade for children.

 

I thought that this Ted Talk was extremely intriguing and definitely gave me a different insight on learning. “Learning is not something that comes to us from the inside, but it’s rather something already inside us, a spark that needs to be nurtured and sparked into a flame.” This quote really stuck with me watching this video and learning about this school. Learning truly is something that we all are intrinsically motivated to do but needs to be nurtured by giving students different approaches and ways to satisfy different needs. External sources are important, but getting information from somewhere and actually knowing about it is very different, as Jeff Hopkins said. This class gave me a different view on learning and education in which I will use in my future career.

The Media Reality

This week’s class was a bit of a wake-up call for a lot of us. This class was so influential to my future career.

It was crazy listening to how unsafe most social media sites are. Information, pictures, anything can be shared without knowing where it is being sent to or posted to what website further. It was a reality check with what I should be posting on social media to protect my identity and career.

https://www.mediatedreality.com/

This website is really important for any future teacher to read. It is so important we protect ourselves, and our students from anything internet-related. The only way we do this is to be educated on privacy settings, privacy rules that may be in place, and protecting our student’s privacy.  I would use this in any job company that uses social media, or anyone applying for a job.

During this week’s class, we had a guest speaker talk to us about social media and privacy within the education system. I learned so much, to say the least. We learned about how teachers are responsible for keeping their students safety in mind whenever we are taking pictures, videos, or using our phones in the classroom. In my Wednesday visits, my mentor teacher used a website for the student’s families to use. Within this website my mentor teacher posted videos and pictures of the student’s progress, keeping the families updated and involved. I think that this is really important to do and creates an important sense of community. With this being said, I also remember sorting paperwork and seeing one about this website. My mentor teacher made sure to create a paper to be signed on if the parents wanted their children’s picture taken and to be included on this website. I think that this website is really important but also needs to be done properly, as my Wednesday teacher did.

I currently work at a job in child care and I had no idea even taking a video of something and having their voices in the background was a violation of privacy. It was really eye-opening to fully understand the privacy and the expectations that are set for teachers to keep our students safe.

 

We also learned about what we as educators on social media looks like. It was really interesting to learn that we will definitely be looked up on social media by families and future employers. This was a reality check that I need to make sure my social media is secure and appropriate. It was also interesting to know that whether or not it is private, students, coworkers, employers, and their families will be searching for us on the internet. As I googled myself, I was surprised to see that a few of my social media accounts came up. I will definitely be taking this into consideration for my future.

 

During week 3, we learned about Multimedia Learning Theory / Image, Video, & Audio Editing in this weekly class. This was very interesting to me as I have always struggled with editing pictures, video, and audio.

A big part of my after-school care job is providing the children I care for with sources of drawings, coloring pages, and art. I always struggled with correctly converting these images onto Microsoft word, so seeing how this is done correctly and all the different ways it can be done was beneficial to me.  I also really enjoyed all the images of Bernie. It was a really uplifting class to take some time out of our hectic schedules and have some fun during our class with picture editing.

 

Knowing how to do this is important for teachers to know because we as educators could make so many engaging yet fun activities for our students to do.

 

During the second week of technology and innovation, I am starting to really see the importance of technology in the classroom. There are many different sources and sites that teachers may have to use to communicate with their colleagues and the families of their students. Being able to use these sites appropriately and professionally has definitely become apparent to my teaching career. I think this can be done by keeping the parents connected to the students learning. I noticed this being done in my Wednesday visits. My mentor teacher used a protected website and posted pictures and videos of her student’s accomplishments and work for the parents to be able to see and connect with at home, which I believe is extremely important. This clearly was not something that was done when I was going to school and shows how much technology in schools has developed.

We also learnt about the freedom of information act and the importance of copyright. Before this course, I was unaware of how important it is to attain your resources from a credible source. I enjoy collaborating with other educators to enhance learning and to do this I want to ensure that I am doing this in a safe manner that follows copyright protocols. I am thankful to be enrolled in this course to protect myself online as well as my future students and am eager to learn more regarding this topic.

My experience with technology is limited. I have not really had much of an opportunity to become more familiar and comfortable with technology in my previous schooling, so this class will be helpful to my teaching career. As a teacher I believe that we must provide more than one outlets for our students when teaching, as a website could be helpful to them. I am also interested in learning more about technology for this semester and explore the different websites we can use for future assignments and in my career.

I am excited to get this semester going!